CDI98 Tales: The One that Got Away (Vent Thread) (1 Viewer)

Tonysquander

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My CDI98 set is complete but I still keep an eye out for the shaped inlay chips. Happened to come across a ridiculous highly priced "poker set" on eBay with $25 CDI98s mixed in with Starbursts. Normally, I would have just skipped right by the listing but it was so ridiculously highly priced and had such a weird combination I went back to it for memorialization on our Best/Worst Deals Thread. That's when I saw her. A completely unique, gear shaped inlay $25 chip I had never seen before. Was it an error chip, a mistake, a fake, a relabel, I don't know? Also saw this guy had some normal shaped inlays mixed in with the $25s. So, I reached out to see if he would be willing to carve out the $25s from the set he was selling, create another listing and sell them separately for a reasonable price. He agreed! Bam, I was super-excited and completed the transaction immediately on November 10th. That's when the trouble began.

First, no shipping notification was received for a few days. Not a huge concern since eBay gives a seller several days to ship. I let it ride and put my faith in humanity. Finally got a message that the purchase had shipped dated 11/14 but then no indication the package had actually been received by the post office. Then, on 11/16 got a message from him saying that as he was packaging up my order he noticed the chips had "different inner shapes" and asking if I still wanted them. He even sent a picture with the breakdown of what he was packaging, which include the singular gear inlay chip shown in the listing pictures. I assured him it was completely fine and to mail away. He said he was dropping the package off that day. He did not do that.

Several days went by with no indication of the package being dropped off. I sent a follow up message on 11/18 and he responded that he "had issues with the post office" and was going to send by Fed Ex instead. Quirky and questionable, but at least I was getting responses. Followed up and asked for the Fed Ex tracking on 11/20. No response from him that day but lo and behold, on 11/21 the original USPS tracking number indicates the package had been dropped off and was on the way. Sweet! I was leaving town for the holidays but it was being sent to the office so no worries. Package arrived on 11/23 and I picked it up when I got back to town.

Once I got home and opened it up, I quickly discovered that he did not send me the gear shaped chip pictured not only in the listing but also in the breakdown picture he messaged to me. Total number of chips were present, but he switched out the gear chip for a round inlay chip. I immediately contacted him to notify him that that chip was missing/had been substituted for a different chip and how we could rectify what I hoped was an oversight or mistake on his part. Needless to say, over several days and messages he has continually played dumb, said he sent the correct number of chips, and has yet to offer any explanation why he removed the gear shaped chip although I think we can all guess why that happened. This a-hole even had the temerity to accuse me of attempting to make a "play" on him even though all I was asking him for was the missing chip clearly pictured in both the listing and the subsequent DM breakdown picture. I am still considering what to do about this situation.

Anyhow, if Charlie in the Amherst/Nashua, NH area has not already sold it to someone else and tries to sell you this chip, just know he essentially stole it from me and would probably try to screw you over too. Also, curious to know if anyone of you CDI98 folks have ever seen one before. OK, vent time is over, here is the best picture I got from him of the missing chip.

988DF26F-9BC6-47C5-9445-277AEE3C94FC.jpeg
 
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File an eBay claim. Show the pictures, they can read your emails, so they can tell pretty quick if a switch was made and get you your money back. You will have to pay return postage.
But do this - ship back the same number of green chips. Any green chips. Then make him file a claim and ship them back to you at his expense, going through the same process you had to.


You are out the money for the chips anyway, may as well have a little fun with some postage money.
 
I’m always playing the devils advocate - annoying habit, I know. But here’s what I’m getting out of this. You saw he had something unique and potentially valuable and you hoped you could get him to sell it to you without him noticing. So you just asked for his 25s.
Then at some point, he probably realized he had something unique and potentially valuable, and he hoped he could keep it from you without you noticing, since you had just asked for all the 25s.

Did he screw you? Yeah it looks like it. Were you kinda trying to screw him? That’s probably a matter of perspective. But you weren’t exactly straight with him and now you don’t have the chip you wanted. And there’s probably a lesson there for all of us.
 
I’m always playing the devils advocate - annoying habit, I know. But here’s what I’m getting out of this. You saw he had something unique and potentially valuable and you hoped you could get him to sell it to you without him noticing. So you just asked for his 25s.
Then at some point, he probably realized he had something unique and potentially valuable, and he hoped he could keep it from you without you noticing, since you had just asked for all the 25s.

Did he screw you? Yeah it looks like it. Were you kinda trying to screw him? That’s probably a matter of perspective. But you weren’t exactly straight with him and now you don’t have the chip you wanted. And there’s probably a lesson there for all of us.
Haha this is absolutely the take I would peg you on lol

Tony asked for photos of exactly what the guy was selling. The guy showed exactly the chip. Then played games with Tony and lied. Maybe let him off the hook if he did realize it and say, “Hey I’m sorry I didn’t realize how unique this chip was. I need to cancel the sale.”

If I showed you a picture of a 2022 Honda civic for $22,000 and you get a 2020 Honda, I’m getting sued and it’s a violation of every state’s consumer sales practice act laws.

This guy does it, and it’s devils advocate? Lol. *All in good jest @upNdown, not trying to be rude towards you.
 
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I’m always playing the devils advocate - annoying habit, I know. But here’s what I’m getting out of this. You saw he had something unique and potentially valuable and you hoped you could get him to sell it to you without him noticing. So you just asked for his 25s.
Then at some point, he probably realized he had something unique and potentially valuable, and he hoped he could keep it from you without you noticing, since you had just asked for all the 25s.

Did he screw you? Yeah it looks like it. Were you kinda trying to screw him? That’s probably a matter of perspective. But you weren’t exactly straight with him and now you don’t have the chip you wanted. And there’s probably a lesson there for all of us.
I can see that as a potential viewpoint, but I reject it. eBay is a marketplace and subject to negotiation. What is the value of that chip to begin with? I have no idea. It could be real or it could also be a fake, a relabel, a china clay knock off, who knows? I did not have a good picture of it to begin with like the one I subsequently got. So, I made a good offer (actually above market price) on a specific lot of chips based upon the risk I was taking that it could be completely worthless and was a gamble on my part. There was no question of what chips I was offering to buy, which were the chips pictured in his original listing. He knew that and even confirmed that when he DM'd me the subsequent picture. As far as not being "straight" with him, I offered money for a specific batch of goods which he accepted and then did not send.

One other pertinent fact you have to keep in mind is that he had these chips listed as a group of 440 for $3,500----280 of them were Starbursts. Therefore, when I made my offer, I had no idea what valuation he placed on any of them. If he had come back later, said he had made some kind of mistake, and wanted to renegotiate I probably would have been a little grumpy about it but likely fine with that too. That's not how it went down, he just straight up stole that chip and replaced it, then acted like it never existed and I was crazy for even asking him about it.
 
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Haha this is absolutely the take I would peg you on lol

Tony asked for photos of exactly what the guy was selling. The guy showed exactly the chip. Then played games with Tony and lied. Maybe let him off the hook if he did realize it and say, “Hey I’m sorry I didn’t realize how unique this chip was. I need to cancel the sale.”

If I showed you a picture of a 2022 Honda civic for $22,000 and you get a 2020 Honda, I’m getting sued and it’s a violation of every state’s consumer sales practice act laws.

This guy does it, and it’s devils advocate? Lol. *All in good jest @upNdown, not trying to be rude towards you.
LOL...and when you ask him about the bait and switch he says he doesn't understand what the issue is because he "sent you a car"...
 
I'd be surprised if he doesn't try to sell it on eBay again or someone in PCF ended up with it once he figured it out. (not sayin a PCF member knew it was sold nor was acting in bad faith).
 
I'd be surprised if he doesn't try to sell it on eBay again or someone in PCF ended up with it once he figured it out. (not sayin a PCF member knew it was sold nor was acting in bad faith).
I suspect the mysterious shipping delay was so that he could procure the replacement chip from either the new buyer or elsewhere.
 
What’s his username at eBay? Bad actors should be called out.
His name is Charlie and that makes up part of his eBay name. I checked him out during the dispute and he’s just a stupid 20 something kid. He doesn’t sell anything on eBay really. I’ve been keeping an eye his account. Lol. This was a one time shot for him. I guess he decide to be a dirt bag after selling to me and then getting other offers. I seriously considered making his life miserable but decided the time I would spend doing that was not worth it.
 

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